11/04/2011

Native American Textile Roadshow set for November 12th



The Center of Southwest Studies will host a Native American rug and textile identification session and talk by Toadlena Trading Post owner Mark Winter on Saturday, November 12 from 2:00-5:00pm. The public is encouraged to bring up to three Native American rug/ textile pieces to the Center’s main gallery from 2:00-4:00pm for identification and evaluation by Mr. Winter. A talk on collecting textiles will immediately follow beginning at 4:00pm. This event is free and open to the public. Donations to the Center for participating in this unique opportunity are encouraged.

10/21/2011

Jackson Clark talk on collecting Native American Art

Durango, CO – October 21, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies will host a Native American art identification session, followed by a talk, by local Toh-Atin Gallery owner Jackson Clark on Wednesday, October 26 from 4:00-6:00pm. The public is encouraged to bring up to three Native American art pieces for identification by Mr. Clark. A talk on collecting art will follow, beginning at 6:00pm. This event is free and open to the public. Donations to the Center for participating in this unique opportunity are encouraged.

10/18/2011

Cutter World Maps now on exhibit in Delaney Research Library



Come and enjoy one of the Center of Southwest Studies most prized collections, the Cutter World Maps, which is now on exhibit in the Delaney Library!

The finding aid for the Cutter Map collection is available online at: http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/finding_aids/cutter_maps.shtml

10/07/2011

The Center of Southwest Studies celebrates ten years of progress and partnerships



DURANGO, CO – October 7, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College celebrates a decade of progress and partnerships, as this year marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Center’s state-of-the-art building. A special Tenth Anniversary Building Celebration will be held on Thursday, October 13th, with a public open house from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Opening remarks begin at 5:00pm, followed by a special presentation by local, award winning author, Jack Turner, on his book, “Landscapes on Glass: Lantern Slides of the Rainbow Bridge – Monument Valley Expedition”. This celebration is free and open to the public.

The Center of Southwest Studies opened the doors of its 50,000 square-foot building in 2001. It houses the Center’s museum/gallery space and the summer solstice window, the Delaney Southwest Research Library and archival collections, an auditorium for public lectures, the Departments of Anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies, and the Office of Community Services. The building was in part funded by the local community, under the leadership of the late Mrs. Morley Ballantine, who chaired the fund-raising campaign and was the founding donor of the Center, along with her husband Arthur.

Established in 1964, the Ballantines and former college president, Dr. John Reed, together envisioned a repository for artifacts, resource materials, books, records and documents that could be used for research of the history and development of the Southwestern United States.

The Center of Southwest Studies collections include the famed Durango Collection, ® which holds old and rare textiles spanning eight centuries. Other collections consist of Native American basketry, contemporary Southwestern art, Ancestral Puebloan ceramics, historic maps and photographs, rare books and ephemera, microfilm, and manuscripts- including personal papers of Congressional and state leaders, and some civic records.

The Center of Southwest Studies was the first research center in the country to focus exclusively on the Southwest, and is regarded as holding one of the best archival collections of any undergraduate institution in the West.

9/05/2011

New postcard collection book, 'Durango'; Authors book signing event September 15th

The Center of Southwest Studies is pleased to announce a new publication, Durango, from Arcadia Publishing's Postcard History Series, complied and written by Fredric B. Wildfang and the Center's Archives Manager, Nik Kendziorski. A book signing will be held Thursday, September 15th from 5:00-7:00pm, in the Center of Southwest Studies' Delaney Research Library. The authors will discuss the book beginning at 5:30pm.

This collection presents a postcard tour of Durango and its environs and provides keen insight into the history and colorful character of this area, which has been a vibrant center of Southwestern Colorado for more than a century. A brief history of postcards as a convenient medium for sharing messages - and as a revolutionary departure from Victorian-era long letters - is included in the book as well. And a very special thanks is due to Nina Heald Webber for amassing the collection of these historical postcards, what she herself calls "windows to the past".

The Center is pleased to offer these books for sale at the event for $24.00.

8/19/2011

Native American and Southwest artists' files now available in the Delaney Research Library




The Center of Southwest Studies Delaney Library has reorganized and made more accessible a collection of over 900 artist related material for research purposes. This collection primarily contains material on Native American artists, Southwest artists, and Inuit artists.













7/22/2011

Fiber Celebrated 2011 now on exhibit





The Intermountain Weavers Conference hosts their juried exhibit Fiber Celebrated 2011 in the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery, July 22 - September 24. Special hours the exhibit will be open: Friday, July 22nd from 1:00-7:00pm and Saturday, July 23 from 12 noon-5:00pm.


The gallery's regular summer hours are Wednesday - Friday, 1:00-4:00pm. Please check back for fall hours, or call the main office 970-247-7456.

6/13/2011

Celebrate the Summer Solstice on June 21st

The Center of Southwest Studies celebrates the beginning of summer with annual Solstice event

DURANGO, CO – JUNE 13, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College celebrates the Summer Solstice on Tuesday, June 21, 2011, from 5:45AM till 7:00AM. At the dawn of the summer solstice, a spiral of sunlight makes its way across the gallery walls making for a dazzling display. Admission and parking are free. Light refreshments will be provided.

Situated in the upper northeast corner of the exhibit gallery, the Solstice Window is recessed into the wall. Created by Denver artist Scott Parsons as a part of Colorado’s Art in Public Places Program, the window was integrated into the building’s architecture. Parsons designed the window in tribute to the solstice markers of the Ancestral Puebloans of Southwest Colorado. The spiral cast by the Solstice Window is visible for several weeks before and after the summer solstice, but it is sharpest on solstice morning. Moving with the motion of the earth and sun, the spiral makes its journey across the gallery wall, fading as the sun rises higher in the sky.

4/26/2011

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4/11/2011

Center to reduce summer hours

April 11, 2011 - Due to reduced funding, the Center will reduce some public hours beginning Monday, May 2nd. At that time the Center's gallery will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but open Wednesday - Friday 1:00 - 4:00pm, and Saturdays 12 noon - 4:00pm. After Saturday, May 28th, the Center will no longer offer Saturday hours, at least through August 2011.

Also, the Delaney Research Library will reduce hours beginning Monday, May 2nd. The library will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and open only Wednesdays - Fridays from 1:00pm - 4:00pm, at least through the remainder of the summer. Check back in August for updated hours of operation. Thank you for your understanding.

4/01/2011

Center of Southwest Studies and Durango Arts Center partner to exhibit Images of the Southwest Juried Photo Show


April 1, 2011- Durango, CO – The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College has partnered with the Durango Arts Center to exhibit the Images of the Southwest Juried Photography Show. This year’s theme is Animals Rule!, featuring all types of furry, feathered and reptilian creatures that also call the Southwest home. An opening reception will be held Friday, April 8th at the Durango Arts Center from 5:00-7:00pm. Photo submissions are open to amateur, semi-professional, and professional photographers alike, with a special category for students. Awards include a $100 First Prize in both Color and Black and White Photography, a $50 First Prize in Student Photography, as well as a $200 Best in Show Prize. These prizes will be announced at Friday’s opening. This year’s show was juried by local wildlife photographer Robert Winslow. The Images of the Southwest photography show was developed in 2003 by the Center of Southwest Studies to recognize the great number of excellent visual artists in Durango and the Four Corners area.

Photo credit: Robert Winslow

3/23/2011

Celebrate Hozhoni Days with us on March 25th!


Celebrate Hozhoni Days by joining the Center of Southwest Studies as we open two new exhibits featuring Native American artists!

Center of Southwest Studies - Delaney Library
Friday, March 25, from 3pm – 5pm, just before the Pow-Wow!
Light refreshments will be served.

Virgil Ortiz: Visionary Artist (Left Image)
This exhibit features contemporary native artist Virgil Ortiz, who blends tradition with edgy provocation in his art as well as his fashion designs. This exhibit is developed by student library assistant Emilio Diaz.

World-renown Cochiti Pueblo artist Virgil Ortiz has taken the entire genre of Native American art to new levels. His intricate designs blur the line between the appropriate and provocative and the beautiful and grotesque; making Virgil one of the most unique and talked about artists today.

In honor of Hozhoni Days, Virgil is pleased to extend a 50% savings on any VO Fashion item. Visit http://www.virgilortiz.com/ and enter promo code VOHOZ at the time of checkout – offer only valid March 23–26, 2011 and includes FREE SHIPPING!

Visual Re-Count: A Boarding School Era Retrospective as Seen Through Native Youth (Right Image)
In this art installation, Diné (Navajo) sisters - Ruthie, Sierra, Chamisa and Santana Edd - examine the Federal Indian policy of educating Native American children. These young artists address the disruptions to tribal life when children were removed from homes and placed in government-run boarding schools. For inspiration, they draw upon their own experiences of acculturation as residents of Durango, as well as the boarding school experiences of their grandparents.

To see more work by the Edd Sisters, visit eddgirlart.weebly.com.

3/17/2011

The Real Savages opens March 18


The Center of Southwest Studies to present a new exhibit, The Real Savages
DURANGO, CO – March 11, 2011 - The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College will open a new exhibit on March 18th, The Real Savages. This exhibit presents a viewpoint of how propaganda and American stereotypes have influenced and impacted Native American cultures and identities. Juxtaposing stereotypical, visual images with historical facts, this exhibit explores the experience of culture assimilation, identity and knowledge.
The Real Savages began as a Fort Lewis College student independent study project by graphic design major, Babe Lansing, who also Ute Mountain Ute. The project was inspired after a summer semester in Germany studying propaganda in art. Art professor Paul Booth facilitated both the summer semester, and Lansing’s project. What resulted from dedicated research and creativity was a student exhibition, first displayed in the Fort Lewis College Art Department. “My ideas and motives have come from a variety of sources and influences within my own life and culture. I am pleased to see that the overall final product has exceeded by far what I expected when I first started this project,” says Lansing.
Impressed, the Center of Southwest Studies staff invited the exhibit to the Center’s gallery space, in part to augment the story of Indian boarding schools, which is touched upon in the Center’s new exhibit Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College, also opening on March 18th as a part of the college Centennial celebration.
An opening reception for both exhibits will be held Friday, March 18, from 4:00-6:00pm at the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery, on the campus of Fort Lewis College. The event is free and open to the public, with light refreshments provided.

2/28/2011

New exhibit, Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College, to open March 18th


With the college celebrating its one-hundredth year as an educational institution, the Center of Southwest Studies was compelled to create an exhibit honoring the diverse history of Fort Lewis College and the role it served in early, rural education in the West. The exhibit, Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College, revisits the school’s unique story, fostering a reconnection to local and regional history, and perhaps answering questions about our educational mission.
Visitors walk through different time periods, representative of the various chapters of the institution’s past. Native peoples of the region used the land near what is now Hesperus, Colorado long before the Army established Fort Lewis on the banks of the La Plata River in 1880. Lasting just over a decade, the military marched out of the area in 1891, and the property was turned into Fort Lewis Indian School. The Indian School era ended in 1910 when the boarding school style of Native education fell out of favor. However that same year, the State of Colorado Congress established the property of Fort Lewis School as an institution of learning, and Native students would be admitted free of charge and on the same terms of equality as white pupils. Twenty students were enrolled in the new Fort Lewis High School by the fall of 1911, offering a range of classes to young people of the region. College level courses were added in 1927, and by 1933 Fort Lewis Junior College was fully established. Fort Lewis A&M moved to Durango in 1956 caused a bit of a stir in town, but made more sense financially and helped to recruit students. Fortitude and hard work would become hallmarks of the school’s heritage.
Today we can celebrate the dedication of so many, allowing the school to grow and prosper as an educational institution these past one hundred years. The opening reception for Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College will be held Friday, March 18, from 4:00pm-6:00pm, at the Center of Southwest Studies Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.

1/25/2011

Call for Entries: Images of the Southwest Photography Show

DURANGO, CO – January 25, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, in partnership with the Durango Arts Center, announces a call for entries for 2011 Images of the Southwest: Juried Photography Show. This year’s theme is Animals Rule! All submissions must fit the theme, whether pet or predator, fur or feathers, tracks or tails. Submissions accepted at the Center’s exhibit gallery during regular business hours, March 14 – 19, 2011, with the final deadline at 4pm on March 19 . Photographers from all levels are welcome to enter. Visit http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu for rules and entry form, or call 970-247-7456 for more information.

Gallery temporarily closed on Saturdays

The Center of Southwest Studies announces the temporary closure of the gallery on Saturdays as staff rotates exhibits. The gallery will remain closed Saturday, January 29th - March 12th, but will reopen with regular hours from 12 noon - 4:00pm on Saturday, March 19th, the day after the public opening of our newest exhibit Frontier Blues: The Legacy of Fort Lewis College.